This past week at our First Wednesday service, Blake spoke on John 15:2 which says
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
It is very interesting to me that God would cut or prune something that is fruitful. In our own carnal way of looking at things, we have trouble understanding this as we apply it to our ministries. If a ministry is bearing fruit, why would you ever "cut it".
As I listened to Blake expound on this, it really became clearer to me. Sometimes we need to cut a ministry or abandon what appears to be a good cause so that we are freed up to start or move to another ministry that will bear even more fruit.
This is often a very, very hard decision to make. We can rationalize that there are good things happening in our ministry and for that reason alone we should not change it. However, the bottom line is that we do not know what God has up His sleeve. To hear God telling you to make a change but not doing it because there are "good things happening" is a cop-out.
YES it is very hard to make the cut and YES people will not like it and YES you will take some hits for it. However, if you don't you risk the chance on missing out on something great that God has in store for you and his kingdom.
Blake shared that had he not given up his fruitful ministry in leading a growing church in Florida, there would not be 15 new churches started in the middle east. Friends, you don't see something like that coming when you obey and "make the cut". But, you can trust that God knows what He is doing!!!
Be close enough to your Father to hear Him clearly and then move forward with confidence with whatever He is asking you to do!
(Blog posts are supposed to be short so feel free to stop reading at this point!)
When I was a kid I tried my hand at gardening. I really didn't know anything about it. Tomato plants were cool because they grew like mad. I was so impressed when I first started growing them. They grew so big and bushy.
However, I soon became discouraged because my monster plants did not produce any tomatoes. Then one day my great grandmother came to our house and spied my gigantic tomato-less plants. She quickly grabbed a knife and told me to follow her. When we got to the garden she started cutting the branches away. There were even a few branches that tiny little green tomatoes on them that she cut. I was in horror.
When she was done my huge plants looked like just a few strangly branches. I couldn't believe she ruined my plants like that.
Of course I realize you are an astute person because you kept reading this post and you certainly know the end to this story. In a few weeks my strangly plants started bearing the biggest, reddest, ripest tomatoes I had ever seen. I had to put stakes in the ground and time the branches with strings to withstand the weight. Pruning the low producing branches provided much more food and energy for the remaining branches.
The ironic ending to this story is, "I don't even like to eat tomatoes!"
